Shaun White's ascent: I dropped in and let all those worries go away'

BONGPYEONG-MYEON, South Korea – He wanted to go last. Shaun White liked knowing where his 11 competitors were on an overcast Wednesday before driving into the icy halfpipe and taking a four-revolution helicopter ride into Olympic immortality.

As White prepared for the final run that would determine whether he’d win a third gold medal, he told himself, “I know you got this. It’s what you’ve done your whole life and career.’ "

With the pressure squarely on his shoulders, White responded by going big.

Very, very big.

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"I dropped in and let all those cares and worries go away," he said.

The Mammoth-based snowboarder scored a near-perfect final run of 97.75 points by completing a trick he’d never done before in competition to roar past teen rival Ayumu Hirano of Japan to retake his snow throne.

White, 31, won his third Olympic title after finishing fourth in Sochi four years ago when he lost his composure. Not this time. Not even competing against 11 finalists whose average age is 21.9 years old.

"Even with the pressure, he was able to do it," said Hirano, also second at the Sochi Games. "His tricks were so cool."

The San Diego native earned the United States’ 100th gold medal in Winter Olympics history by completing the vaunted back-to-back 1440s — four-revolution trickery he supposedly couldn’t do.

"I knew I had it in me to do and I did it," White said.

Now he’s the first American man to win three gold medals in three Winter Games.

Instead of letting the drama cloud his mind like in 2014, White stayed on a chairlift shuttling athletes to the top of the Phoenix Snow Park before his final run.

“Anything to distract from this imminent, pressure-cooker situation,” he said.

White put himself in this position after some had summarily dismissed him as a cutting-edge competitor. This was the era of a new generation, such as defending Olympic champion Iouri Podladtchikov, who withdrew from the competition four days earlier because of lingering issues after hitting his head at the Winter X-Games late last month.

Then there was Hirano, 19, who entered the Pyeongchang Games as the only rider to have completed back-to-back 1440s. It didn’t help that White had suffered two serious injuries in the fall — he needed 62 stitches after hitting his face on a lip while practicing a 1440 rotation trick that is the most difficult in the sport.

Hirano knew better: "I knew he had the same tricks as I had," the boarder said.

Bronze medalist Scotty James of Australia said he has had to ignore the hype surrounding White when competing against the snowboard/skateboard action-sports star.

"It’s almost easy to discredit yourself coming against someone like him," said James, who knew White still had his mojo.

On a dangerous day of poor visibility and flat light, none of the world’s best snowboarders backed away from the challenge. American Ben Ferguson was fourth with an impressive score of 90.75 points — just not good enough to overcome James (92.00) for a medal.

White seized the lead after the first of three runs with a score of 94.25 that almost guaranteed a medal finish. But it was going to take more to rise to the top of the podium. Hirano did back-to-back 1440s in a silver-medal winning second run that led to White’s dramatic finale.

"I’ve watched him since he was 13 years old," White said of Hirano. "He was in a tough position like I was as a kid where you have a lot of pressure to be the next big, great thing in the sport. They were saying that to him – that he would be the next Shaun White – as a small kid.

"I’m sitting there like what do you mean? I’m still here."

Yes, he is. White came to Korea feeling more relaxed and reflective than ever. He had said he never felt happier while training at Mammoth with fellow boarders instead of in a secluded halfpipe in the Colorado Rockies that he used the previous two Winter Games.

All the talk about the sport passing him by fueled White’s competitive nature although he was not sure he could continue after the horrific injury in New Zealand where he spent five days in intensive care after surgery when his lungs filled with blood. White didn’t compete until December this season.

"It made me want to show this is what I’ve been doing my entire life," he said. "I feel night and day physically and mentally different from Sochi."

While White and the other medalists gave a large, spirited crowd an aerial show, snowboarding fans also witnessed a stomach-churning fall in the second run that called into question the danger of a sport that is reaching the edge of sanity.

Japanese teen Yuto Totsuka crashed when the back of his board nicked the lip sending him into a frightening spiral before hitting the course hard. A Japanese official said the teenager suffered a hip bone injury and was being treated at a local hospital.